I would not think to abandon the land without knowing how much wetlands are there. It is very tough to get a piece of buildable land in NJ. I agree that the process is lengthy and painful (because of back and forth communication) but if you have a good engineer, the battle is half won. We went for LOI around 7 years back and got it in 2.5 years. But we did not had the most competent engineer. Our experience was that the DEP guys were fair. Earlier in the process, we were very much dependent on the engineer. Later we took little control, went for a meeting with DEP officials and later had all communications thru emails. That made the process transparent and fast. You will have to calculate the financial feasiblility of going thru this process. We got a fair deal on the land and could wait for LOI as we wanted to sub-divide it to 2 lots. When we started the process, we calculated the cost for building one house only and kept the sub division as a bonus. Town rejected our sub division application (zoning changed towards the end of DEP process) but we were able to start building one house in Nov 2010. The only problem is that the lot is very restricted in terms of all the set backs. We have only 20 ft of backyard and rest will stay wooded. We will not be able to get a pool. You will need to do your homework financially and technically and be ready to make few adjustments.

Kellyeng, I missed your comment. I agree that this is presented in the manner of most SPAM. And to a certain extent it seems to also be a scam, or at least it intentionally preys on the inexperience of homeowners. The IRC and similar residential codes are adopted to make it possible to design and build a house without the use of a design professional, otherwise houses would be required to be designed by architects and engineers like all other buildings. The bearing capacity of soil is well described in the IRC by reference to the Unified Soil Classification System (see link). Any competent designer, builder, or excavator should be familiar with this information and know how to use it. Organic material is obvious by color, smell and texture and it must be removed. For non-organic soil you can rely on the building code, get a geotech report, or you can just make the footing wider and add some rebar. I do it anyway just because it's cheap insurance. I always add vertical rebar in a basement foundation wall even where engineering practice and building codes would not require it simply because I don't trust any contractor to put the first floor deck on before backfilling (as required by code). An engineer should not be a substitute for a competent and experienced designer, architect, or design/build contractor. For difficult wind, earthquake, long span, and truss design, I would strongly recommend hiring a local engineer. He/she might even be cheaper and would be available to observe the work and, if necessary, sign an affidavit for the city at the end of the project. No one should be thinking that they can buy a home design package with structural engineering included over the internet and not need to have it reviewed and modified by a qualified designer or builder so it will be suitable for their site and purposes. Here is a link that might be useful: Unified Soil Classification System

We'll be starting work next week so can't tell yet how happy we'll ultimately be with our GC. I think it all depends on how much you're willing to spend. If you don't have a big budget like us, it's much harder to find someone good. I'll share our experience interviewing GCs and hopefully this will help you in selecting your own. We live in Essex county, these are all from our area. This is for an 8x13 galley kitchen plus an 8x10 breakfast area. GC#1 Full service outfit, but needed $2,500 up front to do design before they'll provide an estimate. $2500 would be credited back if you get the materials from them, otherwise non-refundable. GC#2 They have done work for 2 our friends. $6.5 for demo, removal of nonstructural wall, paint, tile, cabinet install, sink and dishwasher hookup, backsplash. We get all the permits ourselves. We found a local electrician for the lights ($1250). Basically we take care of all the details and planning and once we're done they come in and do the work. We wanted to add a water line to our ref but decided to scratch that as we didn't want to go through the hassle of finding a separate plumber. This is the one we'll be using. GC#3 They also sell their services through Costco which is how we found them. Quoted $3.3k for demo, cabinet install, removal of nonstructural wall, sink and dishwasher hookup. They have an inhouse plumber so if you need anything done in that area they can do it. They would take care of permits for wall and plumbing. Paint and tile, they were willing to do or we could find someone else if we like. Electrical you have to find your own though they could recommend people. You have to get your cabinets (Schrock) from them. We liked them but didn't go with them because Home Depot had a special on their Thomasville cabinets and the total price turned out $1k less than the Schrock. Thomasville and Schrock are exactly the same cabinets and are made by Masterbrand. In hindsight, I think it would have been worth it to pay the extra $1k and used them. We feel they would have helped us more with the planning and permits. Also since they have a plumber, we would have done the ref water line at no extra hassle and a reasonable cost. GC#4 Guy didn't impress. Quoted $11k for demo, removal of structural wall, cabinet install, tile, paint, electrical, sink and dishwasher hookup. GC#5 Full service outfit. Quoted $18k for demo, removal of structural wall, cabinet install, tile, paint, electrical, sink and dishwasher hookup. Gave a detailed quote with price breakdown. They seemed the most knowledgeable of all we interviewed. They'll only use their own subcontractors which brought up the price as these have set prices plus a markup for the GC. The $18k included $3k for removing our gypcrete subfloor and building a mud floor before tiling (best option as gypcrete is not a good subfloor for tile). We liked them a lot but they were beyond our budget. GC#6 Family owned business. $9.5k for demo, removal of structural wall, cabinet install and tile. Electrical and plumbing (including sink and dishwasher hookup) done by affiliated businesses. They were ok but for the price GC#5 was better.

Take the 29K metal building and throw away: The vertical posts that will be superseded, the windows and doors that won’t meet code, the insulation that will not meet code, the hardware that will not meet code, roof trusses that will not meet code. ADD. Seismic, high wind, or snow load engineering and hardware. Including reengineering the roof truss system. Residential foundation. Slab pour. Full exterior and interior framing for a complete home. Roof trusses that meet residential codes. Full 200 amp residential electrical rough in. Full residential plumbing rough in. Full insulation in walls and ceilings to meet residential code. Full HVAC. Full drywall over the framing, wiring, and insulation. All finish electrical. All finish plumbing. Finish flooring. Finish millwork and moldings. All finish cabinetry. Countertops. Appliances. All paint and wall coverings including acrylic panels for the baths. All the labor for all of the above. The only useful thing that you are purchasing from the metal building kit is the metal. And it will not contain the nice trim pieces to finish it off appropriately and attractively. Those are extra. Vinyl siding and asphalt roofing would be cheaper than the metal. In the end, the kit gets in the way of creating a house. You are conventionally framing the whole house inside the metal shell anyway. If you want to purchase metal siding and roofing for a conventionally framed building because of the look, then do that. It will cost more than other options, but at least you are not throwing away so much of the kit. We built our shop to residential standards, because any other way of building made no sense. We did not want an uncomfortable and poorly built barn.